A great rule of thumb is the fact that the bigger your space, the 'heavier' your armchair could be (and the other way round). A study covered with walls of book shelves and wood panels can accommodate a heavy, dominating chair. Look at armchairs for sale who have rich detailing and more classic design. For a more modern space, especially a smaller space, look for free standing legs and slimmer arm rests, and straight, clean lines.

Be it an email you just need to send that night, or some last minute present buying or travel arrangements, our lives are increasingly ruled by devices, and at the same time, we're increasingly expected to be accessible and available all hours of the day.

The conservatory as TV-less living room argument is persuasive though. Perfect for entertaining guests before dinner, or even for day-to-day reading, web browsing, or just for sitting down with a cup of coffee and looking out at the scenery. You could start with an armchair, and then add other living room accoutrements if the armchair trial proves successful and desirable.

If you trawl through the enormous array of different styles that the various manufacturers, you may notice that most armchairs seem to lack in originality. The problem with many designers is they seem to forget people have to sit in the chairs and it's the act of sitting that inspires the design of the chair... not the other way around. Furthermore, the armchair is designed to be sat in with comfort in mind: where backs, buttocks and arms should be supported ergonomically to take the pressure off the muscles across the shoulders and lower neck.

For a smaller space, this really is crucial. You want to be sure to have enough room to sit down comfortably in the chair, while also ensuring it fits in the area. The smallest you need to look at for seat depth (or inner measurements) is approximately 24 inches wide for comfortable seating. Take external sizes too, so you will know your chair will slot in perfectly to the space you've got reserved for it.

A continuing trend in modern furniture design has been the sacrificing of comfort for economy and space. While agreeing that those huge Victorian armchairs were really luxurious, designers today would argue that they would be very much out of place in a modern house, as well as being inordinately expensive. So, designers concentrate on producing chairs which can easily be mass produced and which fit contemporary tastes. Unfortunately of course, the result of such thinking is that most chairs manufactured now tend to merely ornament a room without being very comfortable.